On The Vine: Women lawmakers in Jefferson City believe they were drugged | Opinion

The news moves so quickly. Every day, it seems there is something equally or more outrageous than the day before, and readers are fast onto that next thing leaving behind what they had only consumed and hardly digested the day before.

But I find myself coming back to the news reported by The Star just a few days ago about women lawmakers in Jefferson City concerned they had been drugged by male colleagues while out in Missouri’s capital city. How disgusting that this kind of gross behavior is happening involving the people we’ve elected to lead our state.

Who the heck are these men, and why aren’t they behind iron bars rather than podiums and desks at our state capitol? I think that is a fair question, don’t you?

At least two women, both Democrats, recently addressed a committee hearing on a bill that would increase penalties for possession of several drugs that are frequently referred to as date-rape drugs.

House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Missouri House, and Elizabeth Fuchs, a St. Louis Democrat who sponsored the bill, recounted details of times when they suspected they had been drugged. They also talked about having been warned by other female colleagues that this sort of thing happens. They were advised by women to avoid going to after-work meetings and having drinks with people they don’t know well.

That sounds like something you have to warn your young daughter about before she goes out to the city bar scene, not something our women lawmakers should have to worry about dealing with while out schmoozing, dinning and doing the necessary political deal-making.

Star reporter Jack Harvel reported Fuchs told the committee that a year ago, she accepted a drink from someone she didn’t know well and had a hazy recollection of the rest of the night. She said she wasn’t sure she was drugged until she encountered a colleague later in the legislative session who was seemingly drugged, too.

The drugs mentioned in the bill are not detectable after a short period of time, leading to many cases passing without accountability. But somebody knows more and should say more.

This sounds more like misguided college frat boy behavior than grown and supposedly professional lawmakers sent to Jefferson City to make decisions on what’s best for the state. But I believe it 100%, because why would these women make this up? They wouldn’t.

Men in the General Assembly and other top government leaders in the state have a bad history of harassing women at the capitol.

By 2018, the Missouri House had dealt with six formal sexual harassment complaints over a two-year period. Four involved lawmakers and cost more than $20,000 in external investigation fees. Those complaints, which did not involve drugging, but bad behavior nonetheless, led to the resignations of then-State Sen. Paul LeVota in 2015 and State Rep. John Diehl that same year.

Also in 2018 then Gov. Eric Greitens stepped down amid a scandal involving allegations of his involvement in alleged sexual violence and a nonconsensual sexual encounter. Drugs were not part of that complaint, either. But you see the history. All these allegations, if true, represent disturbing behavior by former state leaders.

Fuchs said she hopes her bill will discourage people from carrying or dealing the drugs. “By increasing penalties, my hope is that it will deter people from having these drugs in the first place,” Fuchs said.

Aune, Fuch or any other women who has dealt with this kind of criminal behavior from elected officials should be talking to the police and seeing to it that they investigate the alleged perpetrators. We don’t need them making any laws or setting any policy in our state.

Off The Vine

Below are stories about culture and identity from communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Go here to find more from Star reporter J.M. Banks.

• Iconic civil rights leader Al Sharpton visited Kansas City last week, warning that many Americans underestimate the stakes of the current political and social justice moment the country is in. “It’s not going to be all right,” he said. Banks wrote about the full scope of his message during an Urban League of Greater Kansas City’ event.
• For more than a decade, Made Mobb has established itself as one of Kansas City’s most recognizable fashion brands. Banks wrote about how the apparel brand is now seeing a boom.

Around The Vine

• The 2026 Nuestra Latina Awards, hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, celebrates local Latina leaders for their impact in the community at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, at the Evergy Center, 1200 Main St., Kansas City.
• A major national traveling exhibit, ”Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad,” is coming to the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, April 7 through May 23. The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Exhibits USA and Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Vine Picks

• Verizon customers have an exclusive chance to secure free tickets to the knockout matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Star reporter Joseph Hernandez tells you how.
• City teachers and school paraprofessionals are not paid enough to afford a midtown apartment. Some live in low-income housing, or in their cars. I wrote about how the situation could become worse.
• Cocaine laced with fentanyl was found over the weekend inside packaging of Barbie dolls sold at the Cargo Largo in Independence, and police know where it came from. Read about the latest in that case here.
• Owners of a local barbecue restaurant that’s been around for 40 years are retiring and have sold the place. Reporter Jenna Thompson writes about where it is and what will be on its menu now.

Your voice matters to us. What local issues do you want to hear discussed in On The Vine? Let me, Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s senior opinion columnist, know directly at mdwilliams@kcstar.com. Thank you for reading.